Re: Icecube Spikes

[mjakub@physics.otago.ac.nz (Marlyn Jakub)]

Bill Beaty reported:
> LATEST NEWS:  I remember seeing ice-spikes mentioned in the "unanswered
> questions" section of PLANET SCIENCE website.  I checked back there and
> found several answers posted by learned people.  They say that the
> phenomenon has been written up before in journals of atmospheric
> sciences.  One person from New Zealand has observed very large ice spikes,
> and has even seen corkscrew versions (where the changing direction of
> wind caused the growing tip to tilt in a circular-varying direction.)
Bill, I wonder if the New Zealand report is the one from Alexandra, in the
middle of the South Island, where it can get well below freezing during the
winter. After water had dripped and filled the tubular handrail of a
staircase at a school, consider what happened if a cold spell occurred. As
the freezing of the water began, the icicle would exit from a hole--located
away from the end of the steel tube. I doubt wind effects are involved in
the icicle forming process, which forms up to six curls in a helix. The
icicle forming has been reported by NZ media since it has occurred in at
least three different winters since l988. My files include a picture of the
l995 version, which has the icicle showing six very uniform helical curls.


Marlyn Jakub, mjakub@physics.otago.ac.nz